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(continuation)
"It feels fantastic to start with a win like this," said Linton, smiling oddly. "He kept on railroading my efforts in those first three rounds and he should be commended for that. He kept himself in the fight because by doing that he wasn't taking any punishment. It was frustrating but I realised after that third round that all I'd been doing was headhunting. Maybe I was a bit excited or anxious but once I went to the body the whole fight turned. He couldn't handle those ribshots and they really broke him down. Broke the motherf^c%er, down!!!"
ESPN's Julio Marguilles found himself in an unexpected situation for the second time in an hour (following David Kane's antics after the last fight), Linton almost swallowing the microphone before going all crazy eyes straight into the camera. He then turned and walked away without another word, leaving the ring and disappearing back to the dressing room within a minute of his bizarre outburst. Clearly it was a live, on-air example of the type of behaviour that had concerned some at the auditions. HBF President Michael Vincennes might have something to say about both Kane and Linton in the coming days.
Co-Feature
Crowd favourite Leonardo Barbaressi improved his homeland record to 2-0 with a unanimous decision victory over the Englishman Richard Dunn. Barbaressi took the verdict by scores of 58-55 (twice) and 58-56, the Argentinian ending Dunn's brief rally when he dropped him with a body shot a minute into the 5th. Before that moment Dunn had worked his way into the contest with some solid work in rounds three and four after Brbaressi had controlled the first two rounds. The knockdown permanently swayed the fight in Barbaressi's favour and he dominated the final stanza.
Barbaressi missed out on a semi-final spot in the South American Boxing League tournament, despite scoring victories over two of the semi-finalists (Jorge Luis Gonzalez and Roberto Davila). He's looking for greater success in the Qualifying League and with this win against Dunn he's certainly made a good start. Barbaressi's career record is now 4-2 while Dunn fell to 2-3-1, the loss ending a three fight undefeated streak.
Main Event
In perhaps one of the most unlikely main events in the federation's short history, Los Angeles native Cleaver Twidell scored his fourth consecutive victory, defeating Idaho's Brett Ranford by unanimous decision (59-56 on all three cards). The Qualifying League's 30th seed weathered a challenging middle section of the fight before finishing strongly in the final two rounds. Like Barbaressi, both Twidell and Ranford were competitors in the South American Boxing League. They didn't clash during their stay there, although Twidell took a split decision win over Barbaressi back in May that ultimately cost the Argentine a place in the semi-finals.
Those who have been critical of the way the HBF seeded the Qualifying League might point to this fight as an example, with both Twidell and Ranford considered to be amongst its weakest competitors. They'll eventually have to step into the ring against two of tonight's successful debutants, Mark Elwood and Dre Linton. Anyone who knows anything about boxing would be able to see that, even based on tonight's single performances, Linton and Elwood are at least a class or two above Twidell and Ranford. It will be interesting to see if the seedings are proved farcical when those fights take place. For now, though, Twidell is a surprising 4-2 while Ranford is 2-3-1...
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